Revenge of the Dead
by the-shooting-stars
Summary: This is set after Twilight/ Heaven Sent. Basically, Suze had destroyed a crime ring with the help of Jesse. But the criminals arrested died in a car accident. What would happen to Suze and Jesse? Rated T to be safe. Rewritten.
1. Chapter 1: The Operation

**Disclaimer: The Meditor series, characters and some of the plot belong to Meg Cabot, not me.**

I opened my eyes just a little. Taking a glance around my surroundings, I saw a lot of crates. Silence. And then I heard muffled sounds, cursing very colorfully in all languages, among which I could only recognize the English, French and Spanish ones. Wow, that thug must be like a linguist. I was trapped in this disgusting musty dark place, with my hands and feet bound together. Yuck. This was so not what I imagined my "mission" would end up like. I mean, I have been in worse situations than this, like cuts all over my body and being trapped under the collapsed breezeway of Junipero Serra Mission Academy. But this was definitely not my idea of fun.

When I started out to bust this smuggling ring, I had been very careful, according to my own standards anyway. Then my mom had to call me on my brand new cell phone and it rang. The result? Those thugs got me and I am trapped. Remind me to put my phone on silent mode forever. Blame that Sergeant Simon. He has the surname as me, Susannah Simon, known as Suze. That was why I even agreed to help him in the first place. The sergeant was dead, killed by this international group of smugglers when he had almost busted them. Then he found me, told me, and entrusted me with this dangerous mission.

And I definitely could not tell the police. I mean, can you imagine me telling the police, "Hey! The ghost of Sergeant Simon appeared to me and told me about this international smuggling ring and their headquarters is at the deserted warehouse at 6 Ring Road." As if I would do that. That would guarantee me either a one-way pass to the mental asylum or at least, a lifetime pass to some therapy centre. So I decided to investigate it myself and then tell the police everything based on my own observations.

"Ring round the mulberry bush" , as I called this operation was strictly a secret. Don't laugh, I couldn't think of any other name. And it had been playing on the radio when I was ing. Oh sure, I told Father Dominic and Jesse, who are both mediators like me, and their reaction was to insist on telling the police everything Sergeant Simon had said. So I said 'no thanks' and ducked out of the room, escaping the lecture.

Did I mention that this ability to see, talk to and touch ghosts, as Father Dominic had so delightfully called a "gift" is like a curse for my life? I could have done really well without it. I can imagine it, no people labelling me a freak, no detentions for skipping lessons to help ghosts, and a normal life, like the average teenager. But, on the other hand, if I did not have this ability, I would not have been able to talk to my dad since he died quite a few years ago till the day of the Winter Formal-when he moved on to the Great Beyond after seeing me truly happy. And of course, I would not have met Jesse either, and that would be hell.

Jesse, Hector de Silva, was actually a ghost. To cut the long story short, I travelled back in time to save his life some 150 years ago, but accidentally brought his body back. His soul got sucked into his body and he kind of came back to life in this century. Jesse is the hottest guy in all of Carmel undisputedly, though he can be quite outdated and traditional at times. But who can blame him? He had come from the century before. But he is getting hip with the lingo now. Oh, and the hottest guy on the planet is my boyfriend! Jesse and I are dating and the whole Carmel population is so jealous…

One tiny voice was nagging in my mind while euphoria was rolling off me in waves. _Snap back to reality, Suze Simon! _I did get too engrossed in my thoughts there for a while. At least it got me distracted from the situation I was caught in. That's when I saw a glimmer of light, more like a ghostly glow. Sergeant Simon materialized right in front of my eyes.

Using his ghostly telepathic powers, he untied my ropes. "Thanks. You have no idea how sore my limbs are," I whispered, stretching my limbs slightly. Attracting attention by talking to thin air was not a good idea. "Oh, no problem, I got you into this in the first place." He shot a smile at me. I was kind of pissed actually. He still had the nerve to smile when he got me into this? He was so going to get it. But well, I needed to get some help first.

"Sergeant, can you help me to inform Jesse?" I had a hunch he was not going to be pleased, but I still needed help.

"Ok, sure." And he dematerialized with a glow. The crook was still swearing in a thousand different languages, or from what I could tell from his tone. I was curious and strained my ears. All I could manage to catch were "police" and a few "oof" s here and there. From what I gather, there was a fight going on and the police found out about this smuggling ring. Sergeant Simon couldn't have been that fast. I doubt that even Jesse in all his glory could be that fast either.

But one voice was strangely familiar. I admit, I was still a bit groggy from being knocked out. A club from behind hurts a lot, trust me. But I would recognize that voice anywhere and anytime. "Jesse?" I shouted from my hiding place. He couldn't really had been that fast, could he? "Querida? Hang on, I am fighting those thugs, of course with some help from S.S" he replied. I could hear a few of "Where did that come from?" shouts of surprise. Ha. Smirking, I knew the cool benefit of having a ghostly friend. Serve them right. "Oh, and I called the police already. They should be here any minute!" Jesse yelled between kicks, punches and blocks.

I had definitely no idea that Jesse could fight so well. It was not really that much of a wonder. I mean, just look at those muscular abs of his. Oh well, I guess I could always admire Jesse later. Now, I think I could help a little with the crime busting. Jumping up and stretching my numb limbs again, I ran to help Jesse knock out my kidnappers. Revenge is sweet…We made a great team. The kidnappers were out cold soon, hand and feet bound. Though of course, we had loads of help from our sergeant friend. He had a lot of pretty good moves. I would bet that it was part of his training.

The moment I got myself to stop panting heavily, I glanced as Jesse, who was also quite breathless himself, still shining in glory. I felt myself falling into the deep dark pools of his eyes, like always. I smiled. "Querida, are you OK?" I was grinning so hard by then that he asked why I was smiling. "Oh, it's nothing. And I am OK. I wouldn't mind kicking some more pieces of filth." Jesse laughed at that and put his arms around my waist. I leaned against his shoulders, feeling a sudden urge to kiss him. I was beyond lucky that Jesse was there to save me. And I really felt kind of guilty about not telling him about "Ring around the mulberry bush".

Jesse must have been pretty worried about me, because then he kissed me right on the lips. And he was definitely not a fan of public displays of affection. He still thinks it is wrong, somehow. Soon, we were so absorbed in a deep, passionate kiss that we were completely oblivious to the surroundings. You know, like those kind of exaggerated and cliché movies. But this is reality. We were engrossed in our own little world.

It was the peak when we heard a slight cough and pulled away. Jesse raised his scarred eyebrow and I was swooning all over him again. We looked around for the source. And we saw those smugglers looking thoroughly disgusted with us and Sergeant Simon looking a bit out of place. Oops. That was a great big mistake; both of us were blushing like tomatoes, and I smiled sheepishly at Jesse.

But before neither of us could say anything, the Carmel police barged into the warehouse. The present sergeant of the police had only taken a short glance at the bound crooks and ordered his subordinates to arrest those smugglers. Then it was those normal boring procedures of the police taking our particulars to contact us for further procedures, like testifying. I stole a glance at Sergeant Simon and caught a look of his sorrowful face. The poor person, it was supposed to be his job, well, at least before he got killed.

The police drove off and I walked over to Sergeant Simon.

"Hey! Are you alright? I was afraid you would like cry out or something like that," I said jokingly to him, to comfort him.

"Susannah," Jesse warned me with a stern face. Yeah, yeah, I was just joking. But I did not tell him that. It would just earn me more of those stern looks when all I wanted to do right now was to give him a great big kiss for saving me. Seriously, Jesse had a lack of humor. I turned to the sergeant and asked him, "Okay, Sergeant, you got your dying wish to nab those smugglers. What are you going to do now?"

"Actually, Suze, I think I'm going to move on soon. Could you please help me deliver a letter to my family? I placed the letter on your dressing table. I trust you, and thank you for all your help." And with a shimmer, he disappeared, moving on to the Great Beyond.

"Come on, Susannah. Let's get back to the car and get you home. But you better find a way to explain your bruises and cuts" Jesse held my hand and guided me through the door. "Jesse, seriously, do you think that the police won't go knocking on my house doors and get me to testify against the crooks?" I mean, reporters would also know the story, and it will get on the news right? Though I was not a big fan of publicity, I could not deny that.

"All right, querida, you should be right. I am still not very sure about this." Jesse replied with some uncertainty in his voice. Today's law might have been quite different from the 1800s. I was quite sure of that. A whole century and a half, and if the laws didn't change, it would have been too weird.

"Jesse, I am quite sure about this. And could we please go to your apartment first, please?" I put on my puppy loving eyes, hoping it would work. I wanted to get some nice private time, and neither this disgusting place nor my home with my mom and Andy was the perfect place to do it. His apartment was the best place to hang out together with the least interference, maybe except for Father Dominic.

My ruse worked since Jesse agreed. So, I got into his car, well, actually not really his car. He had not earned enough to buy one yet. But Father Dominic gave him money to rent one. Oh, did I mention that Father Dom had gotten the apartment for Jesse. Basically, he had set up everything for Jesse with help from the church, I would think.

Anyway, when we got to the apartment, I just plonked down on the couch, relaxing while Jesse went to get his gigantic first-aid kit and helped dress some of my wounds. He must had been a born doctor because he was done quite soon. "Okay, Susannah, let's talk." I braced myself to kiss him, because, well, usually the term "talk" meant "kiss" in our scenario. But it was obviously not the case this time since he started on a long boring lecture on the dangers of facing dangerous criminals on my own. That was what hanging too much round Father Dominic does to a person. Not that Jesse wasn't traditional in the first place.

It was getting really boring and I tuned him up, lust building up every moment I looked at him. When he actually paused to take a breath, I interrupted him. "Can we continue where we left off?" I asked sweetly. And without waiting fro a reply, I practically pounced on him, planting a kiss on his lips. That shut him up. And we engaged in making out for the next ten minutes, and him finally stopping when we got too close to second base.

I thought of something and asked him how he knew I was there. Well, I turned out that he had actually seen me take a taxi to the warehouse, which was quite close to his workplace, the Carmel Historical Society. Since I had told Jesse about the case, he had known that the smuggling headquarters was there and guessed what I was about to do. Then, he totally skipped work, and on the pretext of a family emergency, got out of work, trailed me, called the police and rescued me. That was the jist of it. I count myself fortunate enough. At least I was somehow far-sighted.

When Jesse drove me home, I got bombarded with questions by Mom, Andy and my three stepbrothers. I had told them I was going for a morning walk, and came home covered with bruises and cuts. They were obviously suspicious in the first place. Me, the late sleeper going for a stroll? Haha. Not to mention me coming back with Jesse. Jesse was bombarded as well. I basically did most of the answering, because my story did not involve any dead ghosts, since none of those people understand anything about my special ability. Cooking up a story was actually kind of easy, just exclude all the paranormal parts and that's it.

Jesse, I think, was too much of a gentleman to lie. Him and his 1800s manners. Though he kind of lied to me quite a few times, but it had been for my own good, or so he thought. And he was a bit awkward about me going to his apartment. He was pure enough and I think I convinced my mom that he only tended to my wounds there. Obviously, I excluded the naughty part. It would have been bad...

I got away with the whole thing, since my mom did not ground me at all. She might have been even a little proud. It is not often I really do something good that I can tell her about. I mediated ghosts, sure. But I would never tell her. Honestly, it was for her own good too. Maybe little white lies work.

But for some odd reason, after Jesse left for work, my eyelids kept twitching all through the afternoon, until I switched on the television to watch the evening news, to look for mention about the smuggling ring.


	2. Chapter 2: Secrets revealed

**Disclaimer: The Meditor series, characters and some of the plot belong to Meg Cabot, not me.**

I knew it. There was bound to be some mention of some branch of international smuggling ring captured with the help of two civilians. Seriously, it is not that often that it will ever happen in the history of tiny Carmel. The information gotten would stop a whole ring, totally. At least some mention right? I mean, I needed something good to wash off all the records I had for getting into unknown injuries caused by ghosts.

My mom's a television journalist. And she got the day off, because she was feeling really ill, not to mention, in the toilet. The whole place stinks. No, I seriously did not want to know what Mom and Andy had been doing in their room for the past few nights. Anyway, that was how she was even at home to interrogate me in the first place. She was dedicated to her job. So, she obviously needed to catch up on some of the news. Good for her job, I suppose.

So, when my mom switched on the TV, I just plonked down on the couch and started watching the evening news right before dinner. And guess what? Jesse and I got labelled as courageous civilians, and the police were praising so much that I am pretty sure that Jesse was blushing like a tomato at home, watching the news as well. I was kind of embarrassed as it was. Thank goodness there were no reporters to interview me. I hated that kind of stuff, especially when I am actually lying.

But just when I was about to tune off mentally, there was this piece of news that totally shocked me. The police vehicle was transferring the dangerous and important criminals to the country jail. And an accident occurred and all of the criminals died. I was rejoicing that I did not need to testify against those people when the phone rang.

Since the phone was nearest to me, I picked up the receiver and went "Hello?"

"Susannah?" I would so know that voice anywhere. And who else would call me by my full name without risk of getting a broken bone? Fine, maybe Father Dom. Whatever. I was interrupted in Thought Land when Jesse cut in with a "Have you seen the news?"

"Duh, Jesse," I replied in that kind of I-told-you-so voice.

"_Querida_, do you know what this means?" _What?_ Apparently that just meant that we are going to be celebrities. But obviously, judging by the worry in Jesse's voice, it could not be it. Hearing my silence, Jesse told me one very simple sentence.

"They are dead." God, how cryptic could he get? I tell you, ghost behaviour really didn't change. It sticks. My mind was still a little slow from the ego trip just now. And I really didn't get what it meant.

At least till Jesse told me to go up to my room, as soon as possible. What would that do? I did not know, but I knew it definitely was something important. So I told my mom that I will be going to my room, at least until Andy calls for dinner. Dinner is very important, at least to the Ackermans. I got the hang of that long time ago.

I climbed up the steps to my bedroom. And I got a really big shock at what I saw the moment I opened my door. Make that who.

"Jesse de Silva, what on earth are you doing in my room?" I fiercely whispered. Seriously, I did not want to get my mom all worked up because Jesse appeared out of nowhere apparently. Then it hit me that he might have climbed the window. God, that was dangerous.

Then I heard this voice in my brain. _No, Susannah, I do not like to risk breaking my bones when I could come here really easily. _Was Jesse reading my mind or what? _Susannah, I am not reading your mind. Your thoughts are really open._ I kind of accepted it, but I totally freaked out when it hit me. How on earth can Jesse even see my thoughts? Not to mention appear out of nowhere into my room? What about being in my mind? All kinds of possibilities went through my head. Oh my god. Don't tell me that Jesse was possessed by a demon?!

_No querida, I am not being possessed by a demon. I am myself._

_Oh yeah, and how on earth do you like read my thoughts?_

_Isn't it obvious?_

_No._

_Slater._

_You… are a shifter?!_

_Finally got that right. _I saw a smile creeping onto his face.

_And you didn't tell me?!  
_

_Do you think you would have believed that if Slater did not come in?_

_Um, yeah. How else did I believe Paul?_

_Because he showed his abilities to you, Susannah._

_And you couldn't?_

_Ghosts lose their shifter abilities._

_Ok, fine. What are you doing here in the first place?_

_Oh right. _His tone went from amused to serious in such a short span that I was totally taken aback.

_What's with the serious tone, anyway?_

_You do realize that the criminals are dead right?_

_Duh, it was on the news!_

_And what if they can't move on?_

_Oh my god! _

_Querida, they can't do anything. But we need to take precaution, OK? _

_But they might be able to move on?_

_And leave their precious cargo hidden when the rest of the gang can make money?_

_Yeah, criminals are selfish people. They would probably just get the loot and give it to their family._

_Isn't that considered being here, Susannah? _

I am so amused by how naïve I am sometimes. _Um, OK_

_Please be careful, querida._

_I have been fighting ghosts for sixteen years, Jesse. I know how to take care. I'm not a baby, you know. And how do you shift without even losing brain cells?_

_Querida, _he thought as a smile played on his lips _That's for me to know and you to find out._

"SUZE!!! Dinner!" Dopey shouted from downstairs. Horrible timing. I was going to wring more stuff out of Jesse.

_Susannah, I know what you are thinking._

_Fine. K, better go now. Bye! Love you. _It sounded quite like a phone conversation to me.

_Love you too._

And then he shifted back. At least I am pretty sure he shifted back home. Well, at least I got to know he was a shifter. But how? I decided to question him later. But meanwhile, I am starving for dinner, after that whole thing. Who doesn't want a nice dinner of spaghetti with meat? Yummy.

Dinner was pretty quick. I kept spacing out during dinner, thinking about Jesse and his shifter abilities. I finished my food really fast and excused myself. I needed some alone time. To think about everything today. I opened my door, and guess who I should see?

Paul Slater. With Jesse. Chatting like they were good old friends. Oh. My. God.

That was quite a nice surprise but seriously… I would never have imagined that. And they seemed to be talking about shifting. Jesse looked up and saw me. "Hi Susannah," he flashed a broad grin. Paul heard and went "Hey Susie!", smirking. Habits never did change, did they?

_Jesse. Can you at least come up like a normal person?_

_Sorry Susannah. But this is really urgent._

_Ok… Then what is Paul doing here? And shifting loses brain cells!_

_No, it doesn't. At least not normal shifting between places, I think. _Paul interrupted.

_Wow, great. Now my thoughts are being read by two people. Can you two come in by the door? Seriously. I need my brain power for homework._

_Susannah, it doesn't affect your brain power. But it might be better if we come in through your door. _And he shifted, along with Paul. I guess he heard. I don't think I will ever get to learn mind blocks through Paul. I had considered that possibility. Paul and Jesse loved reading my thoughts apparently. I let out a sigh. David might help me though. He was after all an expert in research.

My thoughts were interrupted by a doorbell. Ok, that would be them. I wonder where they shifted to. Most likely somewhere discreet. Wouldn't do good to let people see them appearing out of nowhere. Andy let Paul and Jesse into the house. "Ask them to come in!" I shouted from my room. Andy trusted Jesse totally. Who wouldn't? I mean, Jesse is so gentlemanly. Since he did come from the 1850s. Paul was kind of a different matter. But Andy just trusts Jesse to protect me from Paul. Though seriously, Paul was harmless enough, he did change after all.

Both of them came in, wearing really odd similar smirks on their face. Creepy. I concentrated on getting a wall on my thoughts. At least that sounded logical enough. Walls block things right? Unless they have a bulldozer and totally ram down my wall. I wouldn't be too surprised on that.

"Suze, mind walls definitely do not work against Jesse. Did he tell you that he was the strongest shifter in his generation? He had a lot of power, and still has now," Paul was saying. What? No wonder I felt my wall crumbling so much. And how on earth does Paul know that?

_Suze, I do my research. Grandpa's research does help, you know._

_Fine! Jesse, say something. This is unfair!_

_Why, Susannah. You were perfectly able to take care of yourself, if I heard correctly._

_Not against evil spawn of Satan!_

_Susie, I thought you got over that already._

_That was a joke! God, how dense are you?_

_Susannah._

_Fine Jesse. Seriously, do guys have any sense of humour?_

"Ok, why did you two come in the first place?" I said aloud. I mean, being quiet in the room was plain weird. At least to the non-shifters…

"Susannah, we came to discuss about the present situation."

"But I thought we were done discussing that." The private conversation with Jesse probably would have settled the problem. They didn't appear yet right? "Suze, any past conversation with Jesse is the past. It's the present now," Paul interrupted with such a serious tone that I was really shocked. That was more serious than any other things he ever said. I mean, he was cryptic enough. As for conversation with Jesse, he probably read my thoughts. Again.

Jesse ran his fingers through his hair, a definite sign that he was frustrated. "Susannah, Paul said that there was a ghost who went to him," he said. I was really dense and went "So?" Judging from Jesse's grim look, I totally should have guessed. Then Paul told me the ghost was part of the ring, looking for revenge. No way! That was admittedly horrible.

I mean, I did not want a ghost getting me for revenge for something not my fault. Fine, maybe a little. But I wasn't even the driver of that vehicle which crashed. No fair! And to make matters worse, I could see that ghost. And touch him. And know his abilities. And from experience, rage is a key factor in power. That, and age. I only wished there wasn't one whole big gang.

The whole mood just changed and we spent the time coming up with plans. Something like Paul pretending to help the murderous ghost. I mean, an ex-evil spawn of Satan should be able to do a little simple acting right? He acted well enough when I got to know him. Jesse can't exactly fulfil that role. I mean, the guys had seen Jesse and he was obviously my partner, from the way we were so kissing in front of the crooks. So, he was out. Fine, I came up with that idea. But seriously, there was no other plan right. Unless I lured him into a trap and exorcise him, maybe with the help of Father Dom. But the whole point is criminals so do not fall into traps. They are clever enough, I always thought.

They agreed to my plan after a whole lot of convincing. My safety was important, according to Jesse and echoed by Paul. But I really had to compromise. Like agreeing to being guarded 24 hour. Even when I was in my room. You see how horrible that is, infringement of privacy, even if I probably had none to begin with. And I had to tell my mom every single thing about me being a shifter, even the part about ghost Jesse and evil Paul in the past. I didn't even get why they would even want to reveal their true story. My mom and Andy would be hyperventilating at Jesse being like 150 years older than me. And not to mention resulting in my family having a somewhat bad impression on Paul. Though it's not really true now, but whatever… They really care about me, don't they?

"Back to earth, Suze! Go down, now," my thoughts were interrupted by Paul. _Fine! _I yelled in my mind, knowing that Paul would hear it. Yelling out loud in my room wasn't really good, especially when I was supposed to be working on a project with Paul and Jesse helping. I wasn't even planning to tell my mom about my mediator abilities. I was forced into it. Maybe not really but I had to do that to get my plan working. I took in a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Letting Andy and my three stepbrothers know about my ability was really hard. As if it wouldn't be.

"Susie!" my mom called from downstairs. Without even looking, I knew Father Dom was here. We needed his help to convince everybody not to throw me into the loony bin. I mean, he's a school principal, and a priest. Credibility was important. I learnt that from history. Although it had been Jesse's idea to get Father Dom. And he shifted there to tell the good father. Father Dom must have been bursting with happiness that I finally wanted to tell my family about it. Lying was a sin for him after all. Not that I thought it was lying, just hiding the truth, there was a difference.

Jesse took my hand and squeezed it gently, obviously sensing my panic. Flashing a smile at him, I took in a deep breath and opened the door. It was really funny, the way we made it seem like some kind of procession. Jesse and Paul went first, in front of me. They walked so formally too. It almost made me burst out with laughter. But I remembered my purpose and descended the staircase to the living room, where Father Dom was sitting on the couch. It reminded me of the Winter Formal, just that this was a totally different purpose altogether.

The moment I got to the living room, Paul was totally shouting for everybody in the house to gather to the living room. David and Jake came out immediately. Why would they even obey him, I didn't know. But Dopey refused to come out and Paul went to his room and practically dragged him downstairs, saying this was important. Seeing Dopey did not really like Paul since Paul stole Kelly Prescott from him (not that Kelly was even going out with Dopey in the first place), I wasn't really surprised. Father Dom did not really approve but he said nothing. Jake, Dopey are David were obviously intimidated by the presence of the good father in the living room and put on their best behaviour.

The moment everyone was gathered, Jesse, who was standing beside me, went all formal and said, "Everybody, Susannah has an important thing to say to all of you." I didn't agree with that. But it had to be better than me saying that. At least there was more time to prepare. Everybody was looking puzzled, except for Jesse, Father Dom and Paul, who obviously knew what I was going to say.

_Susannah, you can do it._ Jesse sent me a thought. And then he kind of gave me a mind hug. I didn't know how he had done that but it was a nice gesture. I sensed Paul was getting a bit impatient with me.

I closed my eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply. "Everybody, there's something that I have kept from you for a long time." I paused. For a little dramatic effect. It was nice to keep suspense, especially where my welfare was concerned. _Suze! It's not suspense time. _Paul practically screamed in my head. I didn't know that he would be so enthusiastic about people knowing his past identity, Spawn of Satan. _Susannah. _Jesse interrupted, though he was more caring about it. Least he understood. _Here goes... _I thought to no one in particular, knowing that they could hear.

"I'm a shifter."

**A/N: Please review. Thanks! (:**


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